The Whitewashing Of Education – And How To Stop It.

by Staff April 15, 2024 4 Comments BM Education News Opinion Politics SN Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) No matter how much the right derides the word, the Black community needs to stay woke. In recent years, we’ve witnessed a disturbing trend that threatens the foundations of our democratic society: the rise of book bans, curriculum censorship, and attacks on historical narratives in our educational institutions.

These actions not only threaten the principles of academic freedom and undermine the integrity of our education system, but they also position America as a democracy on the brink of collapse.

Education is meant to be a journey of unlocking the unknown, expanding critical thinking, and advancing intellectual growth. Central to this journey is the freedom to engage with a diverse range of ideas, perspectives, and honest history.

When they censor books, sanitize curricula, or suppress truths like the harsh effects of slavery, Jim Crow, Reconstruction, and various civil rights movements, they are robbing students of the opportunity to grapple with complex issues of the past and design a future that embraces a more just society.

In a country growing more diverse by the day, we cannot let the right whitewash our history or dilute cultures that ignore the multicultural America and world our young people reside in. To do anything other than teach both historic and modern realities is erasure.

Education should encourage dialogue, debate, and the exploration of diverse viewpoints, not shield them from various ideas, uncomfortable truths, or controversial topics. And yet, more than 4,200 books were targeted for censorship in 2023, a 65% increase than the previous year the according to the American Library Association (ALA) — with 47% of them centering the lived experiences of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color.

This isn’t by mistake; it is a deliberate effort to propagate (cis-hetero) white supremacy. As a result, there has been a dangerous domino effect with the rollback of hard-earned civil rights progress. The so-called anti-CRT and anti-DEI culture wars have coincided with the downfall of affirmative action in college admissions, the decimation of voting rights, along with amplified white grievance politics and claims of reverse racism. Schools have always been battlegrounds for civil rights — today is no different.

Black and Latino students are particularly impacted by the erasure of their history and culture. With the majority of students in the U.S. being students of color, they deserve a rich and rigorous education that is culturally relevant to them. Not only is it just, but it has positive effects: Research shows that children are more engaged and have better academic outcomes when they can see themselves in books, learning materials, and teachers. In other words, representation matters.

Similarly, curriculum censorship stifles academic inquiry and hampers educators’ ability to provide a comprehensive and well-rounded education. The right’s attacks on history are particularly insidious, as they seek to rewrite or erase the past to fit a memory of America that no longer represents who we are or where we are going.

History is not static; it is a dynamic and ongoing process of inquiry, interpretation, and revision, and it should not be diluted or distorted. And whiteness should no longer be the default perspective.

Moreover, book bans, curriculum censorship, and attacks on history disproportionately impact marginalized communities and perpetuate systemic inequalities. By silencing voices and perspectives that challenge the status quo or highlight the experiences of marginalized groups, we perpetuate a narrative of exclusion and erasure. Our histories, our heroes, and our experiences cannot be erased.

That’s why EdTrust and renowned leaders in education and civil rights are hosting Can’t Be Erased: An Event to Rally Against Book Bans and Curriculum Censorship on Wednesday, April 17 at 6 p.m. E.T. Attendees of this free virtual event can learn how to push back against efforts to suppress the teaching of honest history and the diversity of identities and ideas in your community.

The call to provide every student with a culturally relevant curriculum in a safe, inclusive environment has never been more pressing. Book bans and policies that restrict discussions of race, gender, and identity not only stifle academic growth but also obscure students’ understanding of diverse cultures both in the U.S. and the world around them.

Written by Ameshia Cross

Official website; https://twitter.com/AmeshiaCross

4 Comments

Fred White says:

April 23, 2024 at 10:44 am

“The Edumication of de poor”

Any major political program in the new century should be evaluated by its ability to state the need for a new educational paradigm; one which establishes a constitutional guarantee to education, that de-institutionalizes knowledge and learning, and one which provides all who want to learn with access to learning opportunities and resources at any time in their life.

It is unfortunate that our whole notion of school is so inextricably bound to the present model: a brick-and-mortar place that children from seven to eighteen are obliged to attend nine months a year to be taught, by a self-certifying elite, a presumptive set of courses approved and prescribed by the State. Schools have accordingly become, at best, experimental institutions for the confinement of the poor and innocent between the ages of 7 and 18, at worst, dangerous and irrelevant.

This is the 21st century and our children, indeed our society, need a change. The present, presumably well intentioned, system of schooling which groups students by age and curriculum practically guarantees classroom will be filled with the disruptive, the bored, the disinterested, and more recently—sociopaths. The presumptive notion that students enter schools alike and eagerly awaiting what government believes should be taught is nonsense. Indeed, an alchemist would have a better chance of transforming lead into gold than our age specific, curricular based, and compulsory schooling has in melding the diversity of students into a wholesome citizenry, never mind changing present educational outcomes—especially for the poor. Compulsory aged-based, curricular learning presumes the student is ready and interested in government schools at the time of day, time of year, or the time in life they are presented. The environment in which a child or an adult is confined in our present model has a destructive influence on the human desire for knowledge and blunts natural curiosity. A 12-year-old with a collection of 1,000 beetles at home is being miseducated and wasting time in a compulsory class on “American” history.

Learning is a lifelong experience best achieved when adapted to individual needs and not limited to the young, the rich, or to those certified by an institutional monopoly to be ready for the next “level”. Any new model of education should allow the student the right to choose the medium, the subject, the teacher, the place, and the time for learning. In my mind, so called educators, and administrators, should be limited to identifying aptitude and interest, preferably, when the learner is young, and then provide and guide access to competent, willing, demonstrably competent, and relevant skill models, guides, and instructors.

I propose four fundamental changes in citizen education:

(1) An end to compulsory attendance laws at government schools.

(2) The substitution of competency test for grades, diplomas, or degrees.

(3) Self-directed learning

(4) The proportioned grants of educational credits, or “vouchers” for all citizens based on age, income, and disability, throughout an individual’s life: more credits when young and proportionally decreasing credits based on age and income. Credits that can be saved (banked) and transferred or used to obtain skills, increase competency, and promote independence.

Reply
Eugenio says:

April 18, 2024 at 1:07 am

There will never be anyway possible to stop whitewashing in PWI because it is control and operated by racist Caucasian Americans who believe in white supremacy and the destruction of people of color. How can you expect to get a proper education as a black person in America attending a public or private school or college owned and operated by Caucasians and the untouchables.

The only solution is for all African Americans to separate and segregate from Racist America by any means necessary. African Americans should only attend and enrolled their children and themselves in black owned private or public schools. All African Americans must attend black HBCU’S and invest in the future of black community college; but more so put all our hard earn money and savings in black owned banks and financial institutions.

Remember, there are over 150 black private schools and HBCU’S in America; as well as 21 black owned banks and credit unition; therefore, it is time for black people to move away from white people and create our own safe space for our black Christian children.

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Pelvo White, Jr. says:

April 17, 2024 at 9:15 am

The way to stop the whitewashing of education is to begin to add classes at the grade school, middle school, high school,and university and college levels that are designed to not only produce an expert in a given field of study, but also to develop a well rounded American world view. It is imperative that Americans develop a well rounded American world view through which to view and interact with our friends and our foes globally.

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- Pelvo White, Jr. says:
  
  April 24, 2024 at 8:52 am
  
  There has never been a completely white-washed America nor a white-washed world. The historical evolution of Western European thoughts reflect contemporary eastern, and western Europe being an eclectic mixture of European and Afrocentric ideologies some born from theological and mathematical thoughts that have emanated from among black,red,yellow, and brown skinned cultures globally. A truthful educating of American citizens will help to bring about a realization that our nation is politically situated as to form a higher level reasonable realization that America’s citizens have more in common than not.
  
  Reply